1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle steering column assembly and more particularly to a tiltable vehicle steering column assembly. More specifically, the present invention pertains to a tiltable vehicle steering column assembly having a transmission shift rod assembled on the steering column.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A tiltable steering column assembly is well known in the art and appreciated as being able to locate the steering wheel at an appropriate position with respect to the driver. It has also been well known in the art to provide the tiltable steering column assembly with a transmission shift rod which is also tiltable together with the steering column. For example, Japanese utility model application No. 56-170827 filed on Nov. 18, 1981 and disclosed for public inspection on May 20, 1983 under disclosure No. 58-75175 discloses a steering column assembly having a steering shaft structured for vertical tilting movements. A transmission shift rod is arranged above the steering shaft to extend substantially parallelly with respect to the steering shaft and can be tiltably moved together with the steering shaft.
The conventional tiltable steering column assembly is disadvantageous in that the geometrical relationship between the steering shaft and the transmission shift rod is changed when a tilting movement is applied to the assembly so that transmission shifting operation may sometimes become difficult. The aforementioned Japanese utility model application proposes to solve the problem by making the upper end portion of the shift rod movable in the longitudinal direction in response to a tilting movement of the steering shaft. For the purpose, there is provided a guide plate which functions to guide the upper end portion of the shift rod in the longitudinal direction so that the upper end portion of the shift rod is appropriately located with respect to the steering shaft under any tilted position of the steering shaft. The proposed structure is however disadvantageous in that the mechanism is complicated.